The Black American West Museum

“Celebrating Black Americans' role in the West”

The Museum began as the personal hobby of Paul W. Stewart, who as a child playing cowboys and Indians, always had to be the Indian because, "There is no such thing as a Black cowboy," he was told.
After Mr. Stewart reached adulthood, he met a Black cowboy and learned that one out of three cowboys in the building of the American West was Black.
So the story begins of on man's search and discovery of a past not recorded in history books. His search has taken him to nearly every corner of the West, gathering personal artifacts, memorabilia, newspapers, legal documents, clothing, letters, photographs, and oral histories. It was this original Paul Stewart Collection that formed the nucleus for Museum which formally began operation in 1971.